Why a Simple Declaration That You Don’t Value Animals Does Not Diffuse the Arguments for Veganism

The position that animals don't matter at all is just crazy

Richard Hanania has an [excellent article](https://www.richardhanania.com/p/eating-animals-and-the-virtues-of) about eating meat (made especially great by its favorable citation of me), though unfortunately, he still eats meat, despite agreeing that factory farming is the worst crime in human history. Many people left comments explaining why they’re not vegan—some agreed that eating meat in normal circumstances is severely wrong, others did not. One person called a_perverse_sheaf left a comment that I think demonstrates a common, yet severely wrongheaded, belief about animals:

If someone is a materialist---meaning that they believe mental states, consciousness, etc. are the results of matter interacting with other matter---I don't really see why we can't just arbitrarily say "human suffering bad, other animal suffering meh."